BP Wants to Get Let Off the Hook? Are We Talking About the Same BP?

There are reports out that BP is HIGHLY OFFENDED that the Justice Department might ask it to pay a settlement for the Gulf oil disaster of … just $18 billion. That’s less than half of the full penalties BP could face if they’re held fully accountable under the Oil Pollution Act, Clean Water Act, and other laws. I’m sure you will be shocked to hear this comically-low figure was helpfully floated by a British newspaper, the Sunday Times.

Now, I am not a lawyer, merely a wildlife advocate who spent weeks in the Gulf both during the disaster and in the aftermath to document its impacts on wildlife and communities. But I really feel the need to clarify here, and while I don’t want to start another word war between Jerry Seinfeld and The New York Times, I have a few questions.

BP? The same BP that, along with rig owner Transocean and contractor Halliburton, the presidential oil spill commission found ignored critical warning signs and failed to take precautions that might have averted the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and gushed over 200 million gallons of oil and other hydrocarbons into the Gulf of Mexico?

The same BP that gave public estimates that underestimated the spill rate by 53 times, then held back video of the gushing wellhead that let independent experts almost instantly give the public a more accurate spill rate than weeks of BP and government cover-ups?

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